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Once Upon an Electronic Time

A quarter of a century ago. Ancient history for some. Not that long ago for others.

In 1984, 13% of US households has a computer; by autumn of 2007, ownership would be 76%.

Top computer companies by revenue in 1984 were (in order) IBM, Apple, Tandy, and Compaq; in 2008, the top four were Nokia, HP, Dell, and Apple.

In 1984, HP brought out the Laser Jet, the first low-cost laser printer suitable for office use--priced at $3,500. In 2009, a highly-rated HP Laser Jet office printer model can be found for $94.

MS-DOS 3.0 appeared in August, '84; version 3.1 came out in November. MS-DOS had eight major versions released before Microsoft discontinued development in 2000; today it has become increasngly irrelevant and has effectively ceased to exist as a platform for desktop computing.